Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	saviour_n	soul_n	4,582	5	5.0993	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45564	A sad prognostick of approaching judgement, or, The happy misery of good men in bad times set forth in a sermon preached at St. Gregories, June the 13th, 1658 / by Nathaniell Hardy ...	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1658 (1658)	Wing H743; ESTC R334	20,404	40

be predicated of a righteous man in which respect Eliphaz said to Job Remember I pray thee who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off That ye may therefore rightly understand the meaning of the phrase know that there is a three-fold perishing The first belongs neither to the righteous nor to the wicked the second is proper only to the wicked the third is common to the righteous with the wicked 1. Perishing in its most strict notion is transitus ab esse ad non esse a passage from being to not being an utter extinction a totall annihilation And in this sense only the beast perisheth which dying is resolved into its first principles and at last into nothing Though therefore the wicked man is said to be like the beast that perisheth yet he doth not perish like the beast Indeed it were happy for him if he might For though some endeavour by their Metaphysical notions to prove a miserable being better then no being yet they must give us leave to say with our Saviour It were good for that man he had never been born Nor is it to be doubted but that the damned heartily wish not to be at all but alas it cannot be 2. There is a perishing which is peculiar to the wicked and this is two fold either perishing in his name or perishing in his person 1. Only wicked men perish in their names whilest their memorial is cut off from the earth Though the righteous die yet their names live That malice which takes away their life cannot extinguish their memory but the wicked perish so as to be wholly forgotten or remembred with infamy so true is that of the wise man The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot 2. Only wicked men perish in their persons that is soul and body This is that perishing which is opposed by our Saviour to eternal life and is sometimes called the second death In this sense to perish is to be eternally miserable to be ever perishing and yet never perished And thus Who ever perished being righteous Indeed St Peter saith the righteous are scarcely saved but there is a great deal of differenre between scarcely and almost Though he is scarcely saved that is not without great difficulty yet he is saved by Gods mercy from this perishing 3. But lastly There is a perishing which is common to the rightcous and the wicked and thus the righteous as well as the wicked perish by the miseries of life and at length by death 1. They perish by the miseries of this life in which sense perishing is opposed to prospering Good men are exposed to dangers in this world as well as the bad nay more then the bad That chosen vessel St Paul reckons a multitude of dangers which befell him in this life where he tels us that he was in perills of waters in perills of robbers in perills of his own Countrey-men in perills by the Heathen in perills in the City in perills in the Wilderness in perills in the Sea in perills among false Brethren and surely what befell him is incident to the most righteous persons 2. They perish by death In this sense the Disciples meant it when they cried Master we perish Thus Elihu expounds it when he saith All flesh shall perish together and men shall turn again unto dust And this our Prophet intends when he saith the righteous perisheth If you shall ask why dying which is only a separation of the soul from the body not an annihilation of either is called a perishing I answer 1. It is a perishing though not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} yet {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in reality yet appearance though not secundum rei veritatem according to the verity of the thing yet secundum communem sensum according to the opinion of the vulgar When any man dyeth whether good or bad he seemeth as one that were perished And though as our blessed Saviour telleth us all live to God yet as Musculus glosseth upon the text In mundi judicio in the judgment of the world they perish 2. It is a perishing though not absolutè yet respectivè absolutely yet respectively it is a perishing as to this world When any man dieth as well righteous as wicked he so perisheth as that he shall never again live here Upon which account it is said Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he Yea holy Job saith of himself I go whence I shall not return This is that which is expres't in that parallel Scripture to this where the Prophet saith The good man is perished out of the earth He is not perished so as not to be at all yet he is perished so as to be no more upon earth And this is all that the Prophet meanes when he saith the righteous perisheth 2. This will yet further appear if you look upon the other word where it is said That mercifull men are taken away As the providence of God in nature hath made those members double which are most usefull as the eyes ears hands and feet that if one fail the other may supply so the wisdome of God in Scripture hath coupled Phrases together that if the one be obscure the other may explain If the one be harsh the other may molisie it It is so here whereas that phrase of perishing is somewhat dark and rugged here is another word taking away which seryeth very much to qualisie and illustrate it The Hebrew word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} hath a double Construction both which are here made use of namely to gather and to take away Calvin reads it Colliguntur mercifull men are gathered Death seemeth to be a scattering and so a perishing but indeed it is a gathering when men die especially good men they are gathered So that in this sense it is a great allay to the bitterness of the other word perisheth 2. Lapide with others-read it auferuntur with which our translation agreeth are taken away and no doubt it is the most genuine rendring of the word in this place since this Hebrew word where it signifieth to gather is usually joyned with the Preposition signifying to whereas here in the very next clause it is joyned with a Preposition signifying from and therefore most fitly translated taken away And now that which the Prophet intends by this phrase is to note two things 1. In general by taking away is meant dying obitus abitus death is often called a going away a departure and thus it mollifieth the former word perisheth letting us see that it is not an extinction but only a remotion an abolition but an ablation when we die we do not cease to be at all only we change our place and are taken away out of this world 2. More particularly by taking away is meant a violent death

a dying when in course of nature a man might have lived long it is one thing for a candle to go out of it self and another to be blown out by the wind it is one thing for a flower to wither and another to be blasted it is one thing for a tree to fall and another to be plucked up by the roots Finally it is one thing for a man to go away and another to be taken away from any place those are Emblemes of a natural these of a violent death In this notion this word addeth something to the former phrase namely the manner of the death The righteous perisheth and that not in a natural way but is taken away by the hand of violence The result of what hath been said on this first general amounts to these two things 1. That righteous and mercifull men perish and are taken away by death Indeed it is said of Enoch God took him that he should not see death so was Eliah and had God so pleased he might have exempted all righteous men from death but then neither his power in raising them to life would have been so illustrious nor their faith and hope in believing and expecting a Resurrection so conspicuous in which latter respect the Father saith well that had good men been priviledged from death Carni quidem faelicitas adderetur adimeretur autem fidei fortitudo though it might have been some kind of advantage to the frailty of our flesh yet it would much have detracted from the strength of out faith In great wisdome therefore hath God so ordered it that righteous and mercifull men as well as others should walk through the valley of the shadow of death Indeed our Saviours assertion is universall He that keepeth my sayings shall not see death but he meaneth the second death and so else where he explaineth himself when he saith He that believeth in me shall not die for ever True it is Solomon tells us that righteousness delivereth from death but it is from the evil not from the being of death death indeed is an advantage to a good man yet still die he must But this is not all which the Prophet here intends since this perishing and taking away by death being that which is appointed for all seemeth not to be a matter of much lamentation and therefore th●t which no doubt is further aimed at in these expressions is 2. That sometimes righteous and mercifull men perish and are taken away by a violent death Indeed it is that which is threatned by God as a curse upon wicked especially bloud-thirsty and deceitfull men it is that which Malefactors are sentenced to by the justice of the Judge but yet withall it is that which may and sometimes doth befall Gods own servants nay which is more strange and yet is many times true the righteous are taken away whilest the wicked remain Solomon observed it in his time There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness yea which is yet most sad but very frequent the righteous perish by the wicked and that for righteousness sake and the mercifull are taken away by cruell hands and that for pietyes sake wicked men never want malice in their hearts and sometimes through divine permission have power in their hands to take away the liberties estates and lives of the righteous One of the first good men that was in the world began this bitter cup which many both men of God and other godly men have since pledged It was the complaint of the Church in the Old Testament and St. Paul taketh it up as most truly applicable to the Church of the New For thy sake we are killed all the day long and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter This is that which the wise God suffers to come to passe for many excellent ends That wicked men by such bloody acts may fill up the measure of their sins and thereby at once hasten and heighten their punishment That good men may have occasion of exercising and manifesting many graces particularly the length of their patience the height of their courage and the depth of their charity When a man endureth to the end suffering even death it self patience hath its perfect work That 's a Resolution indeed which maketh a man faithfull to the death and enableth him to look upon its pale visage with confidence There cannot be greater charity then to forgive my enemy especially when he persecuteth me to the death So that when righteous men perish violently their graces flourish gloriously That hereby righteous men may be fully conformable to the righteous one the Messiah concerning whom this Prophet foretelleth that he should be cut off as the tree is by the ax from the land of the living And in respect of which the Apostle chargeth those Jews that by wicked hands they had taken and slain him Finally That by so perishing the Religion which they profess may be honoured and the God whom they serve glorified Since though both these are in some measure effected by doing well and living uprightly yet much more by suffering ill and dying cheerfully in a righteous cause And now what should the consideration hereof teach us but 1. That certainly there is another world besides this wherein a difference shall be put between the righteous and the wicked between him that feareth God and him that feareth him not Here the righteous perish as well as the wicked nay the righteous perish and the wicked prosper and the mercifull are taken away by the wicked But shall it be so alwaies Will not the Judge of all the world do right Will there not be a Reward for the righteous Yes doubtless And since in this world all things fall alike to all and for the most part it fareth better with the wicked then the godly it necessarily followeth that there is a state after death wherein the righteous judgment of God in punishing the wicked who now prosper and recompensing the righteous who now perish shall be made manifest 2. That it is a needfull prudence in righteous and mercifull men to improve their time and Talents in serving God and doing good to others whilest they live They must perish at last by a natural they may be taken away soon by a violent death and when they perish all ability and opportunity will be taken away of doing good works either of piety or pitty justice or mercy Oh then how great industry and celerity is needfull in putting forth themselves to the utmost for God their souls their Brethren whilest they live that they may do much in a little time according to that sage advice of the wise man Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whether thou goest 3. That sowing in